SRINAGAR, India, Jun 03 (IPS) – Within the war-worn borderlands of Jammu and Kashmir, the silence that adopted the Could 10 ceasefire between India and Pakistan is just not the comforting sort—It’s uneasy.
After per week of heavy cross-border firing that left no less than 16 civilians useless and 1000’s homeless, the ceasefire brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump introduced a fragile halt to the violence. However for individuals dwelling alongside the Line of Management (LoC)—in villages like Uri, Kupwara, Rajouri, and Poonch—the harm goes far past damaged properties.
The official assertion, calling for an “instant and full cessation of hostilities,” might need quieted the weapons, however the psychological and materials scars stay deep and contemporary. Funeral fires nonetheless burn. Kids refuse to sleep. Colleges stay shut. The trauma lingers like smoke within the air.
‘We Buried her Earlier than the Ceasefire’
Twenty-four-year-old Ruqaya Bano from Uri was meant to be married this week. As an alternative, she stood over her mom’s grave, clutching the embroidered dupatta of her bridal gown. Her mom, Haseena Begum, was killed by a mortar shell that landed of their courtyard.
“She was serving to me pack my marriage ceremony garments,” Ruqaya says, her voice skinny. “She smiled that morning and mentioned, ‘Quickly this home will probably be filled with music.’ Hours later, we have been digging her grave.”
4 others died in the identical barrage in Uri, all civilians. Many extra have been wounded—some critically. As the colleges stay shuttered, the younger are left to course of trauma with no help.
For some, phrases have vanished fully.
Eight-year-old Mahir sits on a skinny mattress at a reduction camp in Baramulla, his eyes mounted on a clean wall. He hasn’t spoken for the reason that shelling started.
“He watched his cousin, Daniyal, die when a shell landed close to their cowshed,” says Abdul Rasheed, Mahir’s uncle and a farmer from Kupwara. “Now, if a canine barks or a door slams, he hides below the mattress.”
His response is just not distinctive. Dozens of kids alongside the LoC have reported signs of acute stress: sleeplessness, mutism, bedwetting, and panic assaults. Trauma isn’t just for troopers. In Kashmir, it enters properties with shrapnel.
The violence started within the wake of the April 22 terror assault in Pahalgam that killed 26 individuals, together with 13 troopers. In retaliation, the Indian Air Power carried out strikes on militant camps throughout the LoC. Pakistan responded with heavy artillery hearth, forcing an exodus from border villages.
In cities like Rajouri and Samba, panic set in shortly. Households packed into vehicles at nighttime. Lengthy queues fashioned exterior gasoline stations. ATMs have been emptied. Grocery cabinets went naked. Authorities colleges and public buildings become short-term shelters in a single day.
Reduction employees describe chaotic scenes. “There have been moms with infants and nothing to feed them,” mentioned Aamir Dar, a volunteer from a Srinagar-based reduction NGO. “The concern was absolute.”
After two days of frantic diplomacy by Washington, President Trump introduced on Fact Social that India and Pakistan had agreed to halt the preventing. “Statesmanship has prevailed,” he wrote.
Inside hours, the rumble of artillery ceased. Indian fighter jets returned to base. A tense quiet settled alongside the LoC. However for many who had misplaced properties, limbs, or family members, it was too little, too late.
Authorities officers, together with Jammu and Kashmir’s Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, toured the worst-hit districts. Reduction operations started slowly, and criticism mounted over the sluggish response. “We haven’t acquired even tarpaulin sheets,” mentioned Rahmat Ali from Mendhar. “The assistance is just not matching the necessity.”
Grief Among the many Ruins
In Poonch’s Salotri village, 70-year-old Naseema Khatoon stands earlier than the blackened stays of her two-room dwelling. Her husband died in 2019 throughout an analogous flare-up.
“Now the home is gone,” she says, barefoot on scorched earth. “What number of occasions do we start once more?”
Regardless of their grief, villagers try to assist each other. Younger males kind traces to move down sacks of rice. Medical volunteers have arrange makeshift clinics. College college students from Srinagar have launched on-line campaigns to crowdsource meals and drugs. Hope, although faint, endures.
The Evening Concern Took Over Jammu
Even Jammu metropolis, removed from the instant border, was not spared the anxiousness. On the night time of Could 9, alarms blared about an alleged missile risk to the Jammu airport. Panic swept town. Cellular networks briefly collapsed. Households crowded into bunkers.
“It jogged my memory of the Kargil Battle,” mentioned Rajesh Mehra, a retired trainer. “We slept in our garments with luggage packed, prepared to go away.”
Although the risk turned out to be a false alarm, public confidence was badly shaken. The Indian Air Power flew in emergency provides. Particular trains have been organized for these stranded. Because the mud started to settle, some households returned dwelling—solely to search out them in rubble.
In Tangdhar, a college features now below a torn military tent. The air smells of diesel and concern. 13-year-old Laiba, a pupil, holds a pencil however stares on the flooring. “I wish to be a toddler once more,” she murmurs. “Not somebody who remembers bombs.”
The shelling left behind greater than reminiscences. Fields are affected by unexploded ordnance. Homes have cracks from shockwaves. Native hospitals are stretched to the brink.
The military has cordoned off hazard zones. However till the shells are cleared, an informal step can imply catastrophe.
Again in Uri, Ruqaya Bano lays a garland on her mom’s grave, freshly dug beside their walnut tree. “She at all times mentioned peace would return. Ruqaya whispers, “No weapons, no concern. Perhaps that day continues to be far off. However I hope it comes. For everybody.”
She wipes her tears, then picks up a hammer to assist rebuild their shattered dwelling.
The ceasefire, whereas welcome, is merely step one towards lasting peace. In these villages, peace isn’t just the absence of battle. It’s the presence of dignity, security, and reminiscence. That is the form of peace during which kids can snigger once more. The place weddings are celebrated, not postponed by gunfire. The place individuals sleep with out concern and wake with out sorrow.
A Lengthy Shadow
Kashmir has remained a flashpoint between India and Pakistan since 1947, with each nations claiming it in full. The area has seen no less than three wars and numerous skirmishes. For the reason that begin of the insurgency within the late Eighties, over 100,000 individuals have been killed.
In August 2019, the Indian authorities revoked the area’s particular constitutional standing and bifurcated it into two union territories. Since then, Delhi has claimed a return to normalcy, however native voices inform one other story—one among militarized quiet, silenced dissent, and rising concern.
Final October, for the primary time in over 5 years, native municipal elections have been held. It was a step towards restoration, however a small one.
For now, the ceasefire is holding. However just like the mortar scars on the partitions of those villages, the emotional harm stays etched deep. The silence that follows battle isn’t simply silence—it carries the load of each scream, each loss.
Observe: Names of survivors have been modified at their request to guard their privateness.
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